S a n L u i s O b i s p o—————————

By Mike StoverThe Tribune

Rex Allan Krebs on Thursday pleadednot guilty to charges he killed San LuisObispo college students Rachel Newhouseand Aundria Crawford.

Krebs said nothing as he stood in chainsbefore Judge Barry T. LaBarbera duringhis brief arraignment appearance in SanLuis Obispo County Superior Court.

The 33-year-old lumber salesman was noteligible for bail, and Thursday’s arraign-ment was largely a formality. Public de-

fenders James Maguire and Patricia Ash-baugh agreed to represent him, and a pre-liminary hearing was scheduled for July 7at 1:30 p.m.

No additional information about thekillings was disclosed.

Krebs was returned to the San Luis Obis-po County Jail after his hearing.

Maguire and Ashbaugh told the judgeThursday they had reviewed a list of 200potential witnesses and saw no one whowould present a conflict of interest forthem.

The defense attorneys are busy review-ing hundreds of pages of documents turnedover by prosecutors. The complete FBI filesare expected to be available to them for afew weeks.

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Preliminary hearingscheduled for

afternoon of July 7 ——————————————————

P i s m o B e ac h—————————

By Jerry BuninThe Tribune

Can you imagine a better liv-ing situation?

Depending on your income,your rent is $325 to $625 amonth for an 800- to 900-square-foot, two bedroom, two-story apartment with a privategarage.

The apartment complex is 25feet from Pismo Beach’s MaryHerrington Park, 50 feet fromPismo Creek and two blocksfrom the beach. Your neighbor-hood includes vacation rentalsthat go for $800 a week.

The 12-unit complex has alaundry room and a common

courtyard with a lawn, land-scaping, two mature palms forshade and a barbecue.

The entire building at 211-251Addie St. has been remodeledand repainted in white withgreen trim and awnings.

That’s the reality at SeaHaven — the first af fordablehousing project in Pismo for thePeoples’ Self-Help HousingCorp. It will be dedicated at 4p.m. Wednesday.

The nonprofit bought thecomplex with city and stategrants to prevent the 12 unitsfrom being converted intotownhouses that the existingresidents couldn’t afford, saidJeanette Duncan, executive di-rector of Peoples’ Self-Help.

Mike Salais, who lived there

before it was bought and nowmanages the complex and stilllives on the premises, said thedifference is pretty remarkable.

“It was a real problem area.You could buy drugs in thecomplex,” said Salais, whoworks for The Duncan Group, anonprofit that is affiliated with

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Pismo’s first low-income projectis two blocks from the beach

with rents as low as $325 a month——————————————————

THE TRIBUNEFriday, May 14, 1999www.sanluisobispo.com S a n L u i s O b i s p o C o u n t y , C a l i f o r n i a

Newspaper of the Central Coast

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Inside Coming tomorrowIs your life a disasterarea? You may needthe help of a profes-sional organizer.In HOME&GARDEN

50¢INCLUDES TAX

Housing in Pismo: Prime location without the prime price

Do you qualify?

To get on the waiting listfor Sea Haven or find outif you qualify to live inthe complex, contactSalais at 773-8995 ormeet him at apartment8 in the complex.

Krebs pleads not guilty to killings

Peoples’ Self-Help Housing spent much of last year improvingthe Sea Haven, seen here in a July 1998 photo.

The same day Rex Krebs was arraigned in SanLuis Obispo, his father, Allan Krebs, was ar-raigned on drug charges in Montana.

Allan Krebs, 53, has been charged with pos-session of methamphetamine with the intent todistribute, and possession of a firearm during thecommission of a drug trafficking crime.

He appeared Thursday before a U.S. Magis-trate Court judge in Missoula, Mont., and wasrepresented by a federal defender. He pleaded notguilty. A detention hearing was set for Tuesday.

Allan Krebs was in court on a federal warrantstemming from an arrest in June 1998.

According to news reports, Krebs was arrestedin Libby, Mont., with about 4.2 ounces of metham-

In Big Sky country,father also in court

By Maura ReynoldsLos Angeles Times

MOSCOW — Russia’s wrathfullower house of parliament openedimpeachment proceedings Thursdayagainst PresidentBoris Yeltsin, turn-ing a long-runningparliamentarysideshow into adangerous powerstruggle.

Each side ap-pears to be on a po-tentially suicidalmission to deposethe other.

“We are ready for any scenario,”said Communist lawmaker Igor M.Bratishchev.

The year-old impeachment driverevved into high gear after Yeltsinfired his popular prime minister,Yevgeny M. Primakov, on Wednes-day. Primakov was a favorite with theCommunist-dominated Duma, thelower house of parliament.

“The country is in ruins. It isracked by death throes. And this iswhy it is impossible for Yeltsin to con-tinue as president,” railed Commu-nist deputy Viktor I. Ilyukhin. “Webelieve his impeachment will be thefirst step in the country’s revival.”

Yeltsin’s representative, AlexanderA. Kotenkov, argued that impeach-ment risks shattering Russia’s al-ready fragile political system.

“For the first time in the 20th cen-tury, Russia has the chance to re-place the head of state legitimatelyand openly — before now they wereeither deposed or died in of fice,”Kotenkov said. “Today you face thechoice between plunging the countryinto political crisis and fighting forpower, or affecting an orderly suc-cession of power” in next year’s pres-

By Helen Dewarand Roberto SuroThe Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Stunned byan uproar over the Senate’s re-fusal Wednesday to requiremandatory background checksfor all sales at gun shows, Repub-lican leaders Thursday reversedcourse and agreed to push for leg-

islation requir-ing the checks.Democrats im-mediately de-nounced thenew proposal,saying it wasstill crammedwith loopholesthrough whichguns will contin-ue to be sold forcriminal purpos-es.

The Republi-can turn-aboutfollowed a bar-rage of criticismfrom PresidentClinton, Attor-ney General

Janet Reno and other Democrats,along with threats of a revolt fromwithin their own ranks by a half-dozen or more Republicans whocontended that the earlier votewas a mistake.

The chaos on Capitol Hill re-flected tactical miscalculations onboth sides of the gun debate, aspolitical leaders struggled to con-tend with the intense emotionsgenerated by the killings atColumbine High School on April20. With gun control advocatesdetermined to win new regula-tions on firearm sales and theirfoes struggling to hold the line,the two days of see-saw voteswere the first skirmishes in a bat-tle likely to carry through the rest

TRIBUNE PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM

Rex Krebs appears Thursday in Judge Barry LaBarbera’s courtroomfor his arraignment in the deaths of two college students.

‘I can’t

figure out

how they

did it, or

why they

passed up

this chance

to save

lives.’

PresidentClinton,

reacting toWednesday’s

action

Your affordable Shangri-LaBoris Yeltsin

——————————————————

Action followssudden firing

of prime minister——————————————————

——————————————————

Republicans nowback legislation;Democrats wary

——————————————————

Trice profile: Krebs prosecutor has neverlost a felony case. Back Page

See HOUSING, Back Page

Please see FATHER, Back Page

Please see KREBS, Back Page

TRIBUNE PHOTO BY ROBERT DYER

Manager Mike Salais marvels at the changes to the Sea Haven. ‘It was a real problem area. You could buy drugs in the complex.’

Outragetriggers

switch ongun checks

Please see GUNS, A6 Please see YELTSIN, A7

Dumamoves toimpeachYeltsin

Rockets stay alive witha 102-88 win over L.A.Sports, C1

Cold weather has slowedstate strawberry harvestBusiness, D1

Memories of a long time agoin a galaxy far, far awayTicket

of the congressional term and in-to the election season next year.

The new gun show proposalcame from Sen. Larry E. Craig, R-Idaho, a National Rifle Associationboard member who led the fightagainst mandatory backgroundchecks only the day before. OnWednesday, Craig succeeded indefeating an amendment to ayouth violence bill that wouldhave required mandatory checksby a largely party-line vote. Laterthat day, he won Senate approvalof a weaker amendment, de-nounced as meaningless by itscritics, that enabled voluntarybackground checks by sellers atgun shows.

Craig’s latest proposal, whichhe said he hammered out aftermeetings with the NRA andrestive Republicans, “requires 24-hour background checks for alltransfers of firearms at gunshows,” according to his officialsummary of the proposal. Currentlaw requires licensed dealers, butnot unlicensed vendors, to con-duct checks to determine thatprospective buyers are not

banned by law from purchasingguns.

Craig said he had cleared thenew proposal with other Republi-cans and they supported it, mean-ing it was likely to pass in light ofthe Republicans’ 55-45 margin ofcontrol in the Senate. A vote is ex-pected today.

Asked if the NRA supported thenew proposal, Craig responded,“Grudgingly.”

With Republican support, theSenate Thursday also passed re-strictions on juvenile possessionof assault weapons and ammuni-tion clips by juveniles.

The pro-gun forces recognizedhow vulnerable they had madethemselves when Attorney Gen-eral Janet Reno attacked Wednes-day’s legislative action in unusual-ly harsh terms Thursday morn-ing.

“I am stunned that less than onemonth after the worst schoolshooting in our nation’s history,the Senate has decided to make iteasier for felons, fugitives and oth-er prohibited purchasers to buyguns,” Reno said, at the JusticeDepartment’s weekly news con-ference.

Within minutes President Clin-ton added his voice. “For the life

of me,” Clinton said, “I can’t figureout how they did it, or why theypassed up this chance to savelives.”

Several key Republican sena-tors who had backed CraigWednesday, including some mod-erates, senators seeking re-elec-tion, and presidential candidateJohn McCain, R-Ariz., had alreadybegun to have second thoughts.Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., saidhe would try to change his voteunless GOP leaders consideredstronger legislation.

There was no great deluge ofphone calls or lobbying againstthe original Craig amendment,congressional staf fers said. In-stead, the switch largely reflecteda misunderstanding about whatthe measure actually would ac-complish.

“Some of the senators startedlooking at the language closely af-

ter Reno’s complaint and someother things, and they realizedthat it wasn’t as strong as theythought and that it needed to befixed,” said a senior congression-al aide.

Gun control advocates, howev-er, had suffered from their ownmiscalculations. It was the Sen-ate Democrats who had madethe original decision to press fora floor vote on mandatory gunshow checks because they were

convinced that in the wake of theLittleton tragedy they had politi-cal momentum behind them. Ata White House summit on teenviolence Monday, representa-tives of the firearms industr yhad openly endorsed the gunshow checks and even the NRAhad said it would consider theidea.

Amid frantic but inconclusivevote counting, gun control advo-cates decided they would try to

press a measure by Sen. Frank R.Lautenberg, D-N.J., to regulategun show sales. But Lautenberg’smeasure was defeated onWednesday, largely because rep-resentatives of the firearms in-dustry believed it went beyondthe compromises they had agreedto at the White House summit.The same manufacturers who atthe beginning of the week hadsplit from the NRA over participa-tion in the summit were byWednesday back working withthe NRA to defeat the Lautenbergmeasure.

But a day later, the Republicans,fearing that they had overstepped,reversed course on mandatorychecks. Democrats derided theswitch as signal of “disarray”among Republicans and chargedthat Craig’s new proposal stilldoes not go far enough.

A6 FROM PAGE ONE F r i d a y , M a y 1 4 , 1 9 9 9THE TRIBUNE

GunsFrom Page A1

‘I am stunned that less than one month after theworst school shooting in our nation’s history,

the Senate has decided to make it easierfor felons, fugitives and other prohibited

purchasers to buy guns.’— Attorney General Janet Reno, in response

to Wednesday’s legislative action

A7FROM PAGE ONEF r i d a y , M a y 1 4 , 1 9 9 9 THE TRIBUNE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pro-Communist protesters demand President Yeltsin’s removalThursday as they picket the parliament building in Moscow.

idential elections.The impeachment proceedings

are unlikely to unseat the presi-dent, who enjoys near authoritari-an powers under the constitution.Even if the Duma votes to im-peach, the decision must be con-firmed by the upper house, theFederation Council, as well as thecountry’s two highest courts —bodies whose members are large-ly Yeltsin supporters.

But a vote for impeachment,along with votes rejecting Yeltsin’snominee for prime minister,would drive Russia toward a con-stitutional crisis in which Yeltsinmight be both required and for-bidden to disband the Duma. Tobreak the deadlock he could betempted to call a state of emer-

gency, rule by decree, cancel up-coming elections or even imposemartial law.

“He is moved by only one mo-tive — the preservation of his per-sonal power and wealth of his fam-ily and close circle,” said Rasul I.Shugurov, a deputy from the con-servative Agrarian Party. “He isquite ready to establish a dictator-ship in Russia.”

Parliament has formulated fivearticles of impeachment againstYeltsin: instigating the collapse ofthe Soviet Union in 1991; illegallyusing force against parliament in1993 when lawmakers resisted hisorder to disband; going to war in1994 against the separatist repub-lic of Chechnya; destroying thearmed forces by depriving themof sufficient funding; and commit-ting genocide against the Russianpeople by promoting reforms thatimpoverished them and raised the

death rate.Lawmakers say the charge with

the most support is the article onthe war in Chechnya. But theywarned that Primakov’s dismissalhas convinced some lawmakers totake a harder stand, raising thelikelihood that one or morecharges could get the two-thirdsmajority needed to pass in the Du-ma.

“Yeltsin’s actions yesterday en-sured that impeachment has be-come a real prospect,” said OlegV. Morozov, leader of the centristRussia’s Regions faction. “The dis-solution of the Duma is almost in-evitable.”

The Duma originally set thevote for Saturday, but Commu-nist leader Gennady A. Zyuganovsaid it could come as early as to-day.

If even one charge of impeach-ment passes, the president is con-

stitutionally barred from dis-banding the Duma — and thestage is set for a constitutionalclash.

Yeltsin has nominated his for-mer interior minister, Sergei V.Stepashin — whom many law-makers blame for pushing Russiainto the Chechen war — to beprime minister. If the Duma re-jects the president’s nomineethree times, Yeltsin is required todissolve the Duma and call newelections.

At that point, neither the presi-dent nor the parliament wouldhave a firm claim to power.

“The president may try to dis-band the Duma regardless of thevote,” said Sergei B. Budazhapov,a deputy from the hard-line Peo-ple’s Power faction. “But we areready for it. ... We will not leavethe Duma building. Let him bringin the tanks.”

YeltsinFrom Page A1

Respected attorney known as a fighter

phetamine that he had allegedlytransported from Idaho. Officersalso seized $2,221 in cash.

The Bonner County Daily Beein Sandpoint, Idaho, reported thaton a subsequent search of AllanKrebs’ house, police found hallu-cinogenic mushrooms, drug para-phernalia and a 1995 Pontiac Fire-bird with 700 miles on it that had

been reported stolen three yearsago from a dealership in Spokane,Wash. Those discoveries led to ad-ditional state charges, the Bee re-ported.

Krebs had been free on bondand even paid a visit to his son inCalifornia in March, said JamiePrisco of Atascadero, a formerfriend of Rex Krebs. She said fa-ther and son spent some time to-gether fishing and they bothstopped by her house.

Allan Krebs has been in cus-

tody since May 3, when BonnerCounty sheriff’s deputies arrestedhim at his Sandpoint home on thefederal warrant. He’ll remain incustody at least until his detentionhearing next week.

— Mike Stover

At the upcoming preliminaryhearing, Deputy District Attor-ney John Trice will have to pre-sent enough of his case to con-vince Judge LaBarbera there’ssuf ficient reason to believeKrebs is guilty.

Krebs faces multiple counts ofmurder, rape and kidnapping.Prosecutors are also alleging sev-

eral “special circumstances” thatwould allow them to seek thedeath penalty.

He is accused of abducting CalPoly student Rachel Newhouse inNovember and Cuesta Collegestudent Aundria Crawford inMarch. Both were found buriednear a house Krebs rented in anisolated canyon near Avila Beach.

Court records say the womendied from “asphyxiation by liga-ture.”

Trice would not elaborate on

that Thursday. A change-of-venue motion by

the defense looms as an “eventu-al nightmare,” Trice said. He saidhe did not want to say anythingthat might contribute to a rulingthat pretrial publicity has made itimpossible for Krebs to get a fairtrial in San Luis Obispo County.

The preliminary hearing is ex-pected to take a day and a half. Ashorter preparatory hearingknown as a pre-prelim was set forJune 24 at 1:30 p.m.

S a n L u i s O b i s p o-----------------

By Carol RobertsThe Tribune

John Trice, who’ll prosecute RexKrebs for the deaths of Rachel

Newhouse and Aundria Crawford,has never lost a felony case.

He doesn’t plan to lose this oneeither.

The Air Force reserve lieutenantcolonel has lined up a battery oftroops including Deputy DistrictAttorney Tim Covello, lead inves-tigator Larry Hobson, paralegalsand numerous witnesses. He’spleased with the work of San LuisObispo police, FBI and paroleagents, sheriff’s deputies, the DAinvestigators and others whomoved toward an arrest.

“I think it was a fabulous job,” hesaid, “not only the good policework but the coordination with allthe agencies. It was a mammothproject.”

Still, getting a conviction maynot be easy.

Krebs has criminal defense at-torneys Jim Maguire and Pat (Tr-ish) Ashbaugh as his court-ap-pointed counsel.

All three of the key lawyers inthe case have been involved in nu-merous high-profile trials. Tricewon’t talk much about this one be-cause he doesn’t want to risk achange of venue — presumablyto a place where potential jurorshaven’t heard much about it.

Though known as a fighter and

respected by prosecuting and de-fense attorneys alike, Trice’s vehe-mence this time could be sparkedby some personal association. Hisyoungest daughter is the same ageas the two slain women. She livesin Arizona along with a son and an-other daughter.

“He fights on,” said defenselawyer Ilan Funke-Bilu of his some-time court opponent. “He’s veryaggressive, and every time I havea trial with him, I know there’s go-ing to be a war.”

The two have known each otherfor many years. “There’s no highercompliment for someone who con-siders himself a warrior,” Funke-Bilu added.

“He’s respected by everyone —not just the people in his office butby judges and defense attorneys.He’s a worthy adversary.”

Trice said he’s always wanted tobe a lawyer. He grew up in the LosAngeles area, graduated from theUniversity of Southern Californiawith a psychology degree andwent on to Southwestern Universi-ty to study law as a classmate ofO.J. Simpson prosecutor MarciaClark. In between, he served in theAir Force.

Later, armed with a law degree,he went back into the service withthe Judge Advocate General’s(JAG) Corps. In the early 1980swhile stationed at Edwards and

Travis Air Force bases, he andthree other prosecutors handledthe more serious court marshals inthe western U.S. and Hawaii.

When it came time to settlesomewhere in May 1984, “havinggrown up in Los Angeles,” Tricesaid, “I thought San Luis ObispoCounty was probably the mostbeautiful part of the state.” He livesin the North County.

Trice stayed in the reserves anddoes his JAG work at VandenbergAir Force Base. He recently volun-teered in a mock trial competitionthat drew high school studentsfrom around the county. He occa-sionally speaks about the law atschools.

John Trice: Profile of a prosecutor

——————————————————

Deputy D.A.has never losta felony case

——————————————————

A8 BACK PAGE F r i d a y , M a y 1 4 , 1 9 9 9THE TRIBUNE

FatherFrom Page A1

KrebsFrom Page A1

and manages property for Peo-ples’ Self-Help.

Salais has pictures taken beforethe complex was remodeled,showing bare walls in the laundryroom, trash littered around andfaded paint.

Now residents must abide bycomplex rules, which cover suchthings as keeping garage doorsclosed, said Salais.

Ten families are already on thewaiting list to move in, Salais said.

Self-Help leader Duncan said thecorporation bought Sea Haven tohelp single mothers with childrenand other low-income families.

“It is really unique to find af-fordable homes in a beachsidecommunity. Housing is usually ex-pensive by the ocean,” she said.

The corporation had been look-ing for a project in Pismo for awhile but never found a financial-ly feasible one.

Some corporation projects in-volve remodeling existing homesor apartments, and others pro-jects teach homeowners how tobuild their own homes, a processdubbed “sweat equity.” Their la-bor replaces the down paymentand lowers the construction cost.

Peoples’ Self-Help bought SeaHaven late in 1997 and spent mostof 1998 rehabilitating the apart-ments.

Pismo Beach city governmentcontributed about $130,000 froma Community Development BlockGrant, a state housing assistanceprogram pitched in almost$900,000 and Mid-State Bankloaned the remaining $75,000 forthe purchase and remodeling.

The corporation will own theapartments and keep the rents af-fordable according to county in-come standards. Rental moneywill be used to maintain the com-plex and repay the loan.

Invitations to the Wednesdaydedication at the complex singledout Stan Bell for special thanks.

Bell — a Pismo Beach resident,developer and corporation boardmember — “really kept encour-aging us to try to provide some af-fordable housing there,” Duncansaid.

“Because of his persistence andsupport, we actually got some af-fordable housing in the city,” shesaid.

HousingFrom Page A1

TRIBUNE PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM

An Air Force reserve lieutenant, John Trice also works with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

• Dennis Webb: Gunneddown John and Lori Rain-water in 1987 as they ranfrom their Atascaderoapartment with their chil-dren. Webb had a long crim-inal history and had beenon parole for a violent kid-nap, robbery and attemptedmurder conviction only twomonths before the Rainwa-ters died.

• Mike Messer: Convicted inthe death of his wife, Sabri-na, during a ride home froma 1995 ski trip. Messer toldpolice two stories: one, thatshe fell out of the car andanother that she jumpedout. She died when shestruck her head on thepavement of Highway 46. Ajury convicted him of vehic-ular manslaughter in 1996.

• Terry Highhouse: Re-ceived the longest sentenceever in the county — 115years to life for a spree ofarmed robberies in the sum-mer of 1997. The “ThreeStrikes” sentence includedthree consecutive terms of35 years to life for each ofthree armed robbery con-victions.

• Mike Cooney: A formerPozo firefighter who re-ceived a four-year prisonsentence for starting a1988 blaze that burned 80acres of Pozo Forest.Cooney also was ordered topay $10,000 to the stateVictim Restitution Fund and$10,000 to the U.S. ForestService that put out theblaze.

• Emilio Carranza:Carranza, of San Miguel,was 17 in 1988 when hewas sentenced to 27 years-to-life in the beating andstabbing death of 84-year-old Ronald Gow of PasoRobles.

• Myrna Peterson:Found guilty of voluntarymanslaughter in 1987 afterstabbing her boyfriend,LeRoy Reese, the year be-fore. Peterson maintainedthrough her trial that thestabbing was an accident.

• Robert Higginbotham:A Pismo Beach eye surgeonwho was convicted in 1993of cultivating a 275-plantmarijuana garden in a re-mote area just south of SanLuis Obispo.

Trice’s legal victoriesHere’s a glance at some of his high-profile convictions: